A can body making apparatus is described in Maytag, U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,657, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference for all that it discloses. In this patent, a ram carriage and redraw carriage are each mounted on rollers which move over carriage way strips. Each pair of upper and lower rollers are urged toward each other so as to be in firm contact with the carriage way strip located therebetween. Both the ram and redraw carriages are reciprocated at rates sufficient to form about two hundred cans a minute. The constant reciprocal movement of the ram and redraw carriages and the tight engagement of the rollers on the carriage way strips result in wear which may cause misalignment of the ram or of the can blanks by the redraw sleeve.
Grims et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,167, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all that it discloses, describes a can body making apparatus having an elongated ram which is connected to apparatus for producing straight line reciprocating motion and which is supported solely by a liquid bearing during the reciprocation thereof.